Safe Water in Schools

Recent studies have shown that household Point Of Use (POU) water sanitation technologies can be an effective means for reducing childhood diarrhea in resource poor environments and, in response to these findings, an increasing number of research institutions, development organizations, and private companies have worked to expand these household‐based technologies. Often overlooked by the efforts to provide household POU systems, however, is that children spend as much as 30‐60% of their waking hours in educational institutions and that many schools in low and middle income countries lack the infrastructure to provide students with safe drinking water.

The researchers working on Safe Water in Schools are developing a series of Safe Water Solutions for Schools based on the UV Tube, a POU ultraviolet disinfection system designed at UC Berkeley. The project will seek to provide the infrastructure, technical expertise, and educational curriculum necessary to sustainably supply safe drinking water to school children in Baja California Sur, Tabasco, and Campeche, Mexico.

The Safe Water in Schools project will research the diverse needs of underserved rural schools and then develop a set of sustainable and scalable safe water solutions for these schools that are low-cost and easy to operate. The project team will create an accompanying curriculum for teachers that introduces students to the use and importance of clean drinking water. The project also seeks to integrate water monitoring technology and will work with the local community to develop local funding schemes to cover maintenance expenses and recover installation costs.

Principal Investigator: Fermin Reygadas, UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group
Field Location: Baja California Sur, Tabasco, Campeche, Mexico
Partners: Fundacion Cantaro Azul